Frank Arden has announced his intention to qualify as a tax commissioner candidate in the Republican primary.

Arden, 54, is a Savannah native and has lived in Effingham for eight years. He is a graduate of Benedictine Military School and Mercer University and has a political science degree from Armstrong Atlantic State University.

His son Frank is a senior at Mercer and his wife Wendy is customer service manager for Comcast Communications.

Arden currently is a banking and financial consultant. He retired as a vice president of The Coastal Bank and also has worked with First Atlanta Corporation, Wachovia Bank and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith.

He is a former member of the board of directors of the Effingham County Planning and Zoning Commission, Senior Citizens, Inc., the American Heart Association, the AASU Alumni Association, the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce, the Development Authority of the City of Savannah and the Downtown Development Authority. He was chairman of the West Chatham Council and vice president of the Savannah Jaycees.

He also has been recognized with the Good Government award from Common Cause of Georgia in 2006 and received the Distinguished Service Award as an “Outstanding Young Man” in Chatham County in 1987.

Arden is a member of St. Johns Episcopal Church.